I love this little story about a canvas given as a New Year's Day present.
I love this painted frame gift idea.
I'm picturing one of these paper cones on Paige's door knob on Valentine's Day Morning.
I may need to do this to her door too.
Take a look at the cute picture on this post. I think the idea of having a birthday celebration on the day a baby is born is so cute. I love the zero candle!
Roland said something I found sweet the other night, and I want to remember it. He told me that he found my voice comforting.
Earlier we'd been discussing how I enjoy reading out loud. I do a lot of that in my job working with medically fragile students. Often we have "medical days" where their bodies don't seem to be cooperating, but I never know if they are listening, so sometimes when I'm not sure what else to do, I read to them. Sometimes I worry that I don't do enough "active, hands-on" teaching with them. Sometimes I worry that reading to them all the time is too passive. But when I talked to one of the nurses the other day, she mentioned that it is meaningful to have someone who wants to sit and read with you - and after all, we all know the benefits of reading to our children.
I've wanted to read out loud to Roland for some time, but have never been sure that we could agree on a book. Then Friday night, he took me out to see Inkheart for my birthday. I'd wanted to see it because I'd loved the book. We'd talked again about my reading to him, and over the previews for Angels and Demons, I suggested maybe we could read books that were also movies, and then we could see the movie for a "date" after. So, we've now started our first book, The Da Vinci Code. I've read two chapters so far, one a night before bed. Lately I've found after a day of dealing with students and staff, and then a spirited preschooler, I'm often too tired to spend time with Roland, and I've worried about this. I'm hoping that reading and talking about a book will help us fit a little "us" time in.
I've told him that I've gotten compliments at work about my reading, and asked him if I really did read "that well" and he told me that I did. He told me that he enjoyed listening to me, and found my voice comforting. I found that to be so sweet, that the next night I told him how much that meant to me. I've been thinking about it over the past few days, hoping that maybe that's what it means to my students, too. Maybe when all the medical things get in the way, maybe the act of coming together and sharing a story is comforting.
I have been in a bit of a funk lately. I tend to get seasonal depression, and I think that might be playing a role in it. I am also feeling a little burnt out, and blah.
I tend to not know what to blog about - always thinking I need some big, wonderful thing to blog about, even though I've got that cute little "Blog Guilt Free" icon over there on the right. The point of that little button, if I remember correctly, is to remind me to blog for me, about what interests me.
So today I bring you a little post about Cotton Candy Body Spray .
Last Thursday, I kept thinking I smelled cotton candy in my classroom. I kept smelling it all day, and I couldn't figure out why. Finally, when one of the nurses walked by, I realized it must be her, and it was! She had a cotton candy fragrance on, and gave me a squirt of it. Oddly enough, I spent the rest of the day sniffing my wrists and feeling happy. (Boy, it doesn't take much to make me happy, does it?)
Anyway, on Friday I asked her what kind it was again, because I thought I might like to buy some, and she gave hers to me! I was so excited. I am not normally a "scent" person, but I kept spritzing myself this weekend and feeling happy.
While looking for an image of the Cotton Candy Body Fantasy stuff, I noticed that they have other products with the same scent. I might have to go to the drugstore and indulge. Wow, I'm getting wild in my old age.
Even though it might be a little silly, I want to try and remember my 2009 theme of GOOD and think of the good little things in life that make me happy. I'm hoping to be more mindful of these little things.
What little thing is making you happy today?
This looks yummy.
If I can find some money in the next month (I'm new home broke!) I'd like to make something like this or this.
I wish I'd seen this before I threw away our Christmas tree. I wonder if I have enough needles still on the rug?
I may have mentioned before that Paige loves Ariel, the Little Mermaid.
Yesterday she was coloring a picture of Ariel, and Roland was asking her something about it, and she was telling him how she'd already started coloring her, "her...um, her boob holder," while pointing to Ariel's strategically placed seashells.
I laughed so hard she came over to ask me if I was ok.
I got a little carried away with the exclamation points this week, but here goes:
Look how cute these confetti pancakes are!
I like this idea for gingerbread houses for birds!
I love this hidden painter's tape playground!
Check out these really cool giant pick-up sticks!
I got a little sidetracked with my Thursday lists. This post was orginally started in October! So there's a couple of "dated" ideas on here, but I still like them!! Hopefully I'll be "good" about keeping up with my lists this year. :)
I actually tried some of these for dinner in October.
What a cute kid's gift idea!
I love the idea of this rainy day closet.
Glue Batik looks so cool - I want to try it sometime.
I wanted to make this for Thanksgiving breakfast, but wasn't that organized. Maybe next year.
Another link a little late, but still fun to look at. The I can make it party.
These marshmallow treats and these look cool!
I'd like to remember this for next year - eggnog pie!
Last year around this time, I was reading this book about what Flylady calls "Body Clutter." The book really spoke to me. I realized I have a lot of body clutter. I also realized for the first time just how much my all or nothing perfectionist attitude was hurting me. I realized that I needed to try and work on the perfectionism. To learn to let go, and to learn that sometimes good enough is good enough.
Around the same time, I discovered blogs for the first time. I stumbled across Boo Mama's Tour of Homes and was immediately enthralled. I soon began to think that I wanted a blog too. I began to think that maybe I could blog about my goal of trying to curb my perfectionism. And so I began to blog.
2008 then did not turn out at all as expected. In fact, it turned out to be a pretty sucky year, one that I was very excited to see leave at midnight on December 31st. Now I will admit that buying my first home was a wonderful thing, and I also managed to graduate from grad school and finally get my teacher's license, and those are wonderful things that 2008 gave me. However, there was so much struggle in 2008 - I'm ready to stop struggling. I'm tired.
I'm not very good at resolutions. I often feel like I'm setting myself up to fail, probably because almost every year of my life I've wanted it to be the year that "I lose weight." I've struggled with my weight my whole life, and so that's always the resolution. But that isn't really a resolution. That's kind of just a demand I'm putting on myself when I look at it - one that I then tell myself that I've "failed" at. So this year I'm not going to resolve.
Last year I came across some blogs that talked about learning new skills or setting goals for the new year. I like that idea much better. I thought that this year I might actually try and make some of the recipes I tend to collect but never do anything with. I thought about setting a goal of creating one new recipe a week to take part in my friends' venture. But I am pretty sure that I won't actually do one a week, and that is again setting myself up for failure. So if I'm more honest, I think maybe I just need to try to do some at all. Maybe one a month?
I also decided that what I really need to do this year is to forgive myself more, and give myself permission to fail. I think part of why it is hard for me to try new things, (although I really do enjoy learning) is I'm afraid of failing at them. I often tell myself that if I'm not perfect at it right away, not a "natural" at it, that I shouldn't do it. So I decided this year I need to try to work on easing up on myself a little. Give myself permission to try and fail, and then try again.
I came across Ali's One Little Word concept for a new year. Basically, you pick one word to inspire you for the year. I, of course, came up with a list of several, and have had a hard time narrowing it down. Enjoy, Relax, Breathe, Simplify, Release, Median, Allow, Home, Grow, Mindful, Moment, Dare, and Focus all made my list.
I finally decided to choose Good. I thought it fit in with curbing my perfectionism - learning that sometimes good enough is good enough. Also, I want to be good to myself and take good care of myself. I want to look for the good in others and take time to enjoy the good things in life. 2008 was a sucky year, and overall I'm hoping that 2009 will be a good one. It doesn't have to be perfect, wonderful or great.
Right now, I'll just be happy with good.
